DCSS BOE approves resolution against Amendment 1

ALBANY — At its regular monthly meeting on Wednesday, the Dougherty County School Board joined many other school boards from across the state, voting 5-0 to oppose the Opportunity School District Amendment, which will be on the ballot in November’s general election.

Board Chair Velvet Riggins abstained because she is associated with the Democratic Party in Dougherty County. Board member Geraldine Hudley did not attend the meeting because of a prior engagement in Macon.

Amendment 1 reads: “Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended to allow the state to intervene in chronically failing public schools in order to improve student performance?”

If passed, the amendment would allow the state to take over any public school that scored below 60 three straight years on the CCRPI (College and Career Readiness Performance Index). The governor’s office would appoint an OSD superintendent, who would have the power to hire and fire principals and teachers, and to alter the school’s curriculum.

The proposed amendment states that no more than 20 schools would be taken in by the OSD per year, so no more than 100 schools would be governed by the district at any one time. Those schools would stay in the district for five to 10 years. Amendment 1 would also allow for the closure of schools that failed to improve after that period.

The Georgia Board of Education waded into the issue last week, unanimously approving a resolution in support of the amendment.

Early last month, Dougherty School System Superintendent Butch Mosely expressed a desire for the local board to remain neutral on the issue, but that changed Wednesday.

“Up until this week, our board was basically divided on supporting a resolution on the matter. But once the state Board of Education jumped into the mix, the issue officially became politicized and that made some members of our board mad,” Mosely said. “And the result is what we saw happen today.”

Dougherty School Board Vice Chair Robert Youngblood said he found it ironic that, by passing the resolution of support, “the state School Board basically just usurped its own authority.”

Board member Melissa Strother agreed with the superintendent.

“After the state board voted in support of the amendment, we felt they were trying to take the lead,” Strother said. “On a personal level, we are all against the amendment.”

Earlier this month, an anti-OSD group called Keep Georgia Schools Local launched a $1.3 million ad campaign lambasting the amendment. On Tuesday, a class-action lawsuit alleging that the Amendment 1 “Opportunity School District” ballot language violates the Georgia Constitution was filed in Fulton County Superior Court against Gov. Nathan Deal, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and Secretary of State Brian Kemp.

The complaint, filed by three citizens on behalf of all Georgia voters, charges that the school takeover amendment language “is misleading, subjectively worded and propagandizes the very issue being decided on the ballot.”

After remaining silent for the past week, pro-amendment group Opportunity for All Georgia Students Coalition fired back last Tuesday.

“This is a last-minute media stunt engineered by outside special interest groups in order to generate publicity,” said Tom Willis, director of the coalition. “This frivolous lawsuit demonstrates the depths to which some outside groups will go to defend the status quo. They are playing political games with the futures of 68,000 students trapped in failing schools. It’s unconscionable to hold these students hostage simply to generate news headlines.

“The 68,000 students trapped in 127 failing schools across Georgia, through no fault of their own, deserve the same opportunities as other children.”

On Wednesday, former Cobb County Republican Party chair and State Board of Education member Scott Johnson jumped into the fray with an op-ed piece in the Marietta Daily Journal.

“I am voting ‘yes’ to Question 1 because it is imperative that we take decisive action on behalf of Georgia’s children,” Johnson wrote. “Right now, there are currently about 68,000 students languishing in 127 failing schools around the state. These are schools receiving an ‘F’ on standardized tests for three consecutive years. That is roughly the same number of students currently enrolled at the University of Georgia, Georgia Tech and Georgia College and State University combined.”

The board also announced plans to hold a community information session, hosted by board member James Bush, about E-SPLOST V budget line items today at 6 p.m. at West Town Elementary School.

The E-SPLOST referendum will also be on Nov. 8 ballot.